


It's a Drabble-y Problem

by McAwesome



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, minor injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-30 12:45:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8533576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/McAwesome/pseuds/McAwesome
Summary: A collection of one-shots for prompts I receive on Tumblr. Will always be marked as complete. Chapter 2: Papyrus and Alphys partake in a not-so-thrilling crossword competition. They still manage to have fun.





	1. If a Villain Kicks a Dog, Then a Hero... (Papyrus one-shot)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On his walk home on a cold winter's day, Papyrus has an opportunity he doesn't expect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Papyrus being kind. Just, pure papyrus."

It was cold out.

Not that it really mattered. Papyrus had no skin, after all. The only impact was that all of the surrounding humans were going about their business more quickly than usual.

Being on the surface was a phenomenon. In Snowdin, it felt like Papyrus was the only one that ever was busy. Everyone else—even members of the royal guard—spent all their time at Grillby’s.

Here, though, it felt like everyone was too busy to give him a second glance.

To be honest, he would have thought being a six-foot tall skeleton amongst all these humans would attract more attention, not give him a twelve-foot orb of isolation.

Papyrus internally sighed. Considering the precedent, he supposed he should have seen it coming.

Snow fell silently around him as he made his way over a bridge. Papyrus mentally thumbed through his evening schedule.

When he got home, he would make dinner. Specifically, tomato and cheese sandwiches. It was something he could stomach and that Sans could slather ketchup on.

Afterwards, he would clean the dishes (one drop of soap on a sponge, with 27 being the optimal number of times to scrub), make sure that trashy the trashcan was suitably empty, and—wait.

He was about three-quarters of the way over the bridge when a very quiet whine interrupted him.

A familiar whine.

A quick glance around showed that, while there were several humans moving quickly over the bridge, the source of the whine wasn’t there.

Then where—?

Papyrus eyed the side of the bridge. It couldn’t be… could it?

He hurried to the side of the bridge and looked over to the gray stone below. Papyrus’s eyesight had never been very good, especially from this distance, but it seemed like there was a discoloration below. Something standing out against the white and gray. If only he could see better.

A tall looking human with glasses walked quickly by him.

“Excuse me!” Papyrus called out. The human ignored him, and perhaps started walking faster.

After a glance back down at the blurry spot, Papyrus jogged a couple steps after the human. “Please, human! Can I ask a favor?”

The human stopped, and turned around. They looked a little reluctant. “Yeah?”

Papyrus put on his biggest smile. “Hello! Would you mind looking over this bridge for me?”

“Uh…” the human glanced around nervously. A couple of other humans had stopped and now were hovering nearby.

“My eyesight is not the greatest, and I believe that something may be down there.”

The human still seemed awfully hesitant. “Listen, skeleton, I—”

Another low whine from over the bridge started to make Papyrus anxious. The confirmation suddenly became much less important.

“It’s alright. I understand you’re busy.” Papyrus turned around and walked away from the human to the edge of the bridge, over where he had seen the discoloration. He promptly flipped to the other side of the rail.

“Woah, hey!” came the human’s voice from behind him, accompanied by several other shouts from other humans.

Before Papyrus could let go of the railing, hands gripped his wrists.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Papyrus looked over his shoulder to see the same human from before.

“Ah, so you decided to help, then! Could you look over the railing for me?”

“Sure, buddy, if that will get you to—” Their eyes widened as he looked down. “My God. Is that—that’s a dog! In the water! It’s freezing out here!” Several of the other humans came over to look over the railing, as well.

“Yes, I heard it whimpering, but I wasn’t sure. Now, if you’ll let go of my wrists, I’m in a hurry.” Papyrus leaned forward again.

“Woah, buddy. Stop.” They pulled on his wrists again, holding him to the bridge. Humans really were quite strong. “Yeah, we gotta help that dog, but jumping off the bridge ain’t the way to do it. I’ll call 911, or something.”

Papyrus could feel irritation starting to rise. “If what I know about flesh monsters applies to humans and animals, then I believe time is of essence, especially in the cold.”

“Yeah, but…”

“I understand your concern human, and I am touched by it. However, I am a monster. I have magic. I will be fine.”

The human looked doubtful.

“Please release the skeleton and call the 911." Papyrus said.

The human slowly released their grip, and the moment Papyrus could, he jumped off the bridge. He flared his magic, letting the blue encase his own soul. Gravity lessened, and he glided towards the ground.

Papyrus kept himself light enough with his blue that he didn’t break the surface tension of the slow water running under the bridge. Here he could see more clearly. There was a dog curled on one of the braces under the bridge, where the water receded. As he drew near, he could see frozen fur and a limb bent in the wrong way.

Gently, he lifted the dog by the soul, doing his best not to rattle the body too much. He removed his scarf and gently wrapped the dog as best he could. Papyrus didn’t know how much that actually would help, but it was worth the effort. With as much concentration as he could muster, Papyrus slowly gravitated them both to the top of the bridge.

When he got to the top, a cheer broke out. Ten or so humans stood there, clapping and watching in admiration as Papyrus returned with his cargo. Medics soon arrived on the scene and took the dog from him. Another medic took his number and promised to let him know what about the dog’s condition. Soon, the dog was gone.

As he watched the van pull away and the small crowd start to disperse, Papyrus felt a slap on his back. The human from before.

“Hey, you did a good thing,” they said. Then their expression turned slightly ashamed. “I’m sorry I didn’t help right when you asked.”

Papyrus couldn’t help smiling. “That’s alright!”

Doug smiled back. Papyrus couldn’t help but feel his soul lighten at the expression. “My name’s Doug, by the way.”

“Hello, Doug!” Papyrus struck a pose. “I am the Great Papyrus. Puzzler extraordinaire.”

“Heh,” Doug’s smile grew. “Well, you certainly lived up to that name today. I gotta get home to my wife, but it was an honor to meet you, Great Papyrus.” Doug slapped Papyrus on the shoulder, and walked down the bridge.

…

Three days later, Sans sauntered into Papyrus’s room, where Papyrus was busy arranging his action figures on his new shelf.

“Someone just called for you, bro. I think it was a prank. Or a wrong number.”

“Did you actually answer the phone?” Papyrus asked incredulously.

“Yeah, I can be kind of useful once in a blue moon.” Sans flopped onto Papyrus’s bed. “Anyway, they apparently wanted to tell you that a dog that was rescued is doing okay.”

Papyrus turned around to face his brother excitedly. “Really?”

“Yeah. That actually means something? Wasn’t just someone making fun of you for not liking dogs?”

Papyrus could feel all of the warmth coming back. That dog being okay was a relief. He plunked down next to Sans on the bed.

“Yes, it means something.”

“You wanna explain what?”

Papyrus thought back to all of those humans that wanted to save him from falling, to the soft expressions that they had in their eyes when they saw him return. “Simply that I think our future on the surface is a bright one.”

Sans huffed. “Way to be vague, bro.”

“I only learn from the best, brother.”


	2. Fangirling like a Pro (Papyrus and Alphys friendship)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus and Alphys partake in a not-so-thrilling crossword competition. They still manage to have fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Something with Alphys and Papyrus."

“I believe the answer is ‘ZZZZZZZ.’”

“No, it’s not! We’ve already been through this five times! I swear, Papyrus, if we lose this because you refuse to cooperate—!” Undyne's toothy grin was twitching. 

“But, Undyne! It’s crossword, and crossword is for babies! The solutions are always the same!”

“Pap, look!” Undyne grabbed Papyrus’s neck and turned him towards the other side of the table. There, Sans and Alphys sat, working on a puzzle. Or, at least Alphys was working on a puzzle. Sans seemed to be more preoccupied with sleeping. “SANS ISN’T EVEN DOING ANYTHING, and they are already HALF WAY THROUGH THEIR CROSSWORD! BECAUSE ALPHYS IS BRILLIANT! AND BEAUTIFUL!”

A faint squeak came from across the table, and Alphys looked distinctly redder than she was before. 

Undyne slammed her hands down. “So, listen up! If you’re going to be on my team, you need to PLAY like you’re on my team! I CAN’T LOSE TO MY BEAUTIFUL GIRLFRIEND!”

Papyrus sighed. “Well, okay. I suppose I can try on this boring crossword this once.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about! Now,” Undyne turned back to the paper. “Five letter word for ankle bones.”

“Tarsi.”

“Seven letter word for breastbone!”

“Sternum.”

Eventually, Undyne managed to fill all of the little boxes with the correct letters. The moment she finished, she hit the stop timer button. She looked up and saw that Sans and Alphys had the exact same ending time on their timer. 

“Wha—Alph, I thought you were over halfway done when Pap and I got started! What took you so long?”

“I, uh,” she blushed. “I got distracted.” 

“Wow, Doctor Alphys! Those are some really well drawn hearts that you put around Undyne’s name. I’m impressed!” said Papyrus, whose spontaneous presence over Alphys’s shoulder made her “eep!” in surprise. 

“Y-you can just call me Alphys. And th-thanks.” 

“welp, seems like we tied,” said Sans, who was now awake.

Papyrus put his hands on his hips. “I believe doctor Alphys is the one we tied with, Sans. You did nothing but sleep.”

Sans grinned a satisfied smile. 

“You weren’t helping either, Pap!” Undyne growled. “I say we do a tie-breaker! Where people actually do their part!”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“Tie-breaker! One more round. Me and Pap versus you and—and Sans is already asleep.” Undyne felt the sudden need to facepalm. “Okay, new plan: it’ll be a one-on-one match to the death!”

Papyrus began to sweat. “To the death?”

“YES! Alphys versus Papyrus! Sans and I will be your coaches.” 

Alphys glanced over to her sleeping “coach.” She raised her hand. “C-can I get a replacement? Mine seems to be narcoleptic.”

“Ha, nope! Sorry, Alph. That’s what you get for having him as your best friend. Now—” Undyne ripped out another crossword from Sans's crossword book. “Let’s begin.”

“Undyne?” Papyrus was really sweating, now. “Um, I, well. I have concerns about using a crossword to lethal someone.” 

Undyne paused. “Paps, you know it’s not really a fight to the death, yeah?”

“Uh, yes! I knew that! Of course!” 

She couldn’t help a grin. “Okay, good. Anyway." The new crossword got slammed onto the table. “Here are the new rules I just came up with! Whoever writes down the most answers from this crossword wins!” 

Undyne dragged Papyrus over to her with one hand and gestured towards Alphys with the other. She reluctantly came over.

Undyne then ripped two pieces of paper from a nearby book and stuck the blank sides in front of the two contestants. 

“NOW! Prepare yourselves. I’m about to do the countdown!” After a few nervous glances to each other, both Papyrus and Alphys picked up a pen and poised it over their papers.

“Three. Two. One. CROSSWORD!”

The writing went well for the first few minutes. Neither one of them had to hesitate on any of the answers.

That is, until Papyrus started writing out a long line of Zs. Undyne had committed to be quiet so the two of them could work, so she settled for flicking him in the head. Probably a little too hard, if his jerk and pained expression was anything to go by. He grumbled and began writing words again.

A few minutes later, she caught Alphys drawing something. It was a sketch of when Undyne flicked Papyrus in the head. 

Alphys noticed her looking over her shoulder, and gave an embarrassed smile. “S-sorry, I just had to get it down while the image was still clear in my mind.” 

“That’s very nice, Doctor Alphys!” A glance up showed Papyrus peering over at the drawing. “You captured her expression very well, and in such a simple sketch, too!”

Alphys blushed. “Th-thanks. I think Undyne has the best expressions.”

“Agreed! Especially when she’s being violent!”

Alphys nodded enthusiastically. “H-have you seen her when she suplexes boulders?”

“Yes! She looks so cool!”

“GUYS,” Undyne burst. “There’s a competition going on. Stay focused.”

Both of the contestants reluctantly went back to the crossword. Undyne was too busy rubbing her head in irritation and envying Sans his nap that she didn’t catch Papyrus until after he had sketched out an entire comic. It was of her suplexing a boulder. Alphys was staring at it intently. 

“ARRRGH!” This was unbearable. “FINE! You win!” No backward glance was given as Undyne stomped away.

Papyrus watched after her for a couple of seconds, before turning back to Alphys. “Undyne has a very cool sword, that I believe you made. Have you ever seen her use it?”

-two weeks later-

2:30 AM> ALPHYS GUESS WHAT?????

\- what?? OwO

2:30 AM> AT THE SCHOOL TODAY UNDYNE SOMEHOW!! SUPLEXED HERSELF!! 

\- wow  
\- wait isnt that just a back flip

2:31 AM> WELL YES BUT!!  
2:31 AM> ONLY UNDYNE WOULD THINK TO CALL IT A SUPLEX!

\- shes so cool <3

2:32 AM> YES YES SHE IS [WINKY FACE]

\- papyrus  
\- why didn’t you just type a winky face

2:33 AM> [WINKY FACE]

\- it srsly would be easier  
\- like this ;)

2:34 AM> YOU SHOULD ASK HER OUT [WINKY FACE]

\- we’re already dating

2:34 AM> [WINKY FACE]  
2:34 AM> I’LL SEND YOU A VIDEO OF THE SELF-SUPLEX LATER

\- yeesssss pls do! 

2:35 AM> AND THEN I’LL SEND MY DATING MANUAL  
2:35 AM> THAT I INGENIOUSLY SNATCHED FROM THE LIBRARY

\- we’re already dating  
\- and omg did you steala book from the library

2:37 AM> [WINKY FACE]

\- stop  
\- give the library back the book  
\- and yes video pls <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> You can talk to me or send me a prompt at jewels336.tumblr.com.


End file.
